Fort McCoy will hold its 2026 Armed Forces Day Open House on May
16 at the installation’s historic Commemorative Area.
“This year’s open house will be filled with a wide range of activities, static displays, information
tables, and more,” said Senior Public Affairs Specialist Scott Sturkol with the Fort McCoy Public
Affairs Office. “We hope to see a lot of people out for a fun-filled day at Fort McCoy.”
The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to the public. Adults must be prepared to
present IDs upon entering the installation.
The day’s activities are centered on the Commemorative Area, which features the History Center;
five World War II-era buildings filled with historical equipment and displays, the outdoor
Equipment Park, and Veterans Memorial Plaza.
Within the Commemorative Area, there will be dozens of displays set up in building 905 for
more interactive fun, Sturkol said. Planned activities include a sandbag-filling station,
personalized ID tags, camouflage face painting, military equipment displays, marksmanship
galleries, and more.
Military vehicle displays include the latest Army tactical vehicles and many other vehicles for
visitors to see up close. Soldiers with several Army units will also be there to answer questions
about the vehicles and equipment. Included will be a Paladin tank for viewing and photos.
The Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch will again
be bringing back its popular display that includes some of the wildlife found on post, such as
turtles, frogs, and snakes. They’ll be set up in building 905.
Looking back at the history of the Commemorative Area, a person needs to look back to a day in
late June 1995 when the Commemorative Area formally was dedicated as a World War II
Commemorative Area. Today, the area serves to commemorate not only the installation’s
involvement in World War II, but the entirety of Fort McCoy’s 110-plus years of history.
The work to establish the Commemorative Area began in 1992 during the 50th anniversary of
World War II, records show. Camp McCoy, like many other military reservations, grew
significantly during the World War II era. Because of this expansion and the construction of the
cantonment area, much of what Fort McCoy looks like today is the result of changes that
occurred during that war.
At the time of the 50th anniversary of World War II, Fort McCoy, like many installations of that
era, was in the process of demolishing or significantly renovating its World War II-era wood
structures. Also at that time, Fort McCoy had one of the largest remaining inventories of World
War II-era facilities anywhere, and the Department of Defense was supportive of Fort McCoy’s
efforts to set aside a collection of such structures as part of a World War II commemoration.
Between 1992 and 1995, five adjoining World War II troop buildings — three barracks, a “mess
hall” facility, and an administrative building — in the 900 block of the cantonment area
permanently were set aside for commemoration purposes.
Since then, this area has grown into a 11-acre site. The Equipment Park also was established in
the mid-1990s to complement the Commemorative Area buildings. What began as an initial
outdoor display of five pieces of equipment (“macro-artifacts”) increased over time to what is
today a display of 70 different items, and soon more items will make their way to the park.
All of the items on display in the Equipment Park specifically were selected in keeping with the
Commemorative Area mission statement to present pieces of military equipment that are
representative of what was used here at Fort McCoy in the past.
And new for this year are two more equipment items put on display at Equipment Park. In an
effort that was four years in the making, an M7 “Priest” Self-Propelled Gun and an M114 155
mm Towed Howitzer were placed on equipment pads at Equipment Park on Jan. 28, 2026.
According to Historian Ward E. Zischke, these two pieces were part of the former Fort Snelling
Military Museum Collection. “The M114 Towed Howitzer was on a display pad to the north of
Building 507 at Fort Snelling and was in excellent shape. The M7 Priest was in the motor pool
and was rusty,” Zischke said.
The Fort McCoy History Center, the next component added to the Commemorative Area, opened
in 1999, during the installation’s 90th anniversary. The center features exhibits and displays of
artifacts, photographs, and period memorabilia. The History Center serves to tell the story of Fort
McCoy based on the military personnel who trained here and the civilian workforce who
supported the service personnel who passed through the installation.
The final piece of the Commemorative Area was to build Fort McCoy Veterans Memorial Plaza
to honor all who have served. Construction on this memorial began in 2006, records show, as did
the work to create five Soldier statues representative of each of the major conflicts that Fort
McCoy had been involved with to that point in time: i.e., World War I, World War II, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, and the war on terrorism.
The formal dedication of Veterans Memorial Plaza was June 13, 2009, the date of Fort McCoy’s
100th anniversary. Several descendants of the installation’s founder, Maj. Gen. Robert B.
McCoy, attended this dedication. The dedication was the key event in a series of activities held
during Fort McCoy’s year-long centennial observance.
The 2026 Armed Forces Day Open House also will feature the 204th Army Band. The Army
Reserve band, headquartered at Fort Snelling, Minn., brings their talented group of musicians to
not only play Army songs but popular music as well. The band served up hours of music during
the 2025 Army Birthday Celebration at Fort McCoy.
Zischke, command historian for the 88th Readiness Division, will also be on hand once again to
give hundreds of event-goers a deep look into Army history as he sets up in one of the historical
buildings.
In addition to those already mentioned, others supporting the open house in various was are the
88th Readiness Division; 86th Training Division; Regional Training Site (RTS)-Maintenance;
RTS-Medical; Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; Fort
McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services; Fort McCoy Directorate of Human Resources; Fort
McCoy Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation; Wisconsin Military
Academy; Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works; Fort McCoy Logistics Readiness Center;
Fort McCoy Garrison staff; Wisconsin National Guard, Army Recruiting; Wisconsin Air National
Guard; Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer Academy; Wisconsin Challenge Academy, and
several other organizations.
Read more about the last open house in 2024 by visiting
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/472192/thousands-visit-post-2024-armed-forces-day-open-
house-fort-mccoy.
Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since
1909.”
The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a
training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling
warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”
And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable,
combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in
Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom
training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching
“ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter)
by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and
set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of
Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”